Cutting Words

A warrior should be careful in all things and should dislike to be the least bit worsted. Above all, if he is not careful in his choice of words he may say things like, “I’m a coward,” or “At that time I’d probably run,” or “How frightening,” or “How painful.” These are words that should not be said even in jest, on a whim, or when talking in one’s sleep. If a person with understanding hears such things he will see to the bottom of the speaker’s heart. This is something that should be carefully thought about beforehand.

Hagakure

Before I started the Urban Samurai Facebook page, I read up on what to do and what not to do. I came by an article or blog entry where someone asked the question, ‘Should I like my own links and articles when I post them?’ And the response was, ‘Yes. If you don’t like them, why would anyone else?’ That kind of goes along with this Hagakure passage and with yesterday’s post being about the power of positive and negative thoughts. This is about the power of words coming out of your mouth.

If you don’t believe in yourself, and you state that publicly, how can you expect people to believe in you?

Don’t cut yourself with your own words. While self deprecating humor can be funny, you diminishing yourself and your worth in the eyes of others is not. Be careful what you say and who you say it to, because there are too many other things can stop you from succeeding…don’t allow your own tongue to be your undoing.

This is the same for your internal dialog. Even if you keep saying outwardly that you believe, but keep telling yourself you don’t believe, you’re not going to get over the hump.

When instructing Jerry Seinfeld on how to beat a lie detector test, George Costanza told him, ‘It’s not a lie, if you believe it.’ And as ridiculous as this sounds, and as infrequent as it was, Constanza was kind of right. A lot of people become successful because they will convince themselves of things. They believe their own B.S. And they believe it to their core. And that enables them to sell other people on it.

One of my favorite lines in this whole book is in this passage. As the author is instructing us not to utter negative words about ourselves ‘when talking in one’s sleep.’ This is saying that thoughts of negativity shouldn’t be in your conscious or subconscious. It’s not about putting out this false image of self-confidence. And it’s not about fooling yourself. This is about working hard and proving it to yourself, so that you know it as the truth. It’s about being so rock solid in your foundation, and in the belief of yourself, that confidence oozes out of your pores. You should wear that confidence like a cowboy wears a belt buckle…big, shiny, and right in people’s faces.

When you’re awake, confidence then flows around you like an aura, so that when you sleep, you sleep peacefully, comfortable with yourself and your own abilities.